New bird flu drugs on the horizon
With instances of resistance to Tamiflu, the only drug effective against the H5N1 bird flu virus, reported, there is an urgent need to develop new drugs that can be used to treat infection.
The Voice of America reports that British doctors have peered inside a key protein on the surface of the virus, obtaining structural information that chemists could use to design new drugs to block it. The new drugs would avoid the resistance that some influenza viruses have already acquired to Tamiflu.
Researchers used advanced X-ray technology to provide an "atomic picture" of the atoms that comprise one of the two surface proteins in the H5N1 virus.
Neuraminidase – the “N” in H5N1 – is the protein in bird flu that allows the virus to spread to other cells in the body. Drugs currently used to treat bird flu are based on other neuraminidase models that are not specific to H5N1.
By identifying H5N1’s unique blueprint, researchers may one day be able to use drugs that home in on the strain that has killed 139 people in the past three years.
The problem is that the new drugs are five years away, but it could potentially be shortened as countries accelerate their pandemic preparedness plans.
The Voice of America reports that British doctors have peered inside a key protein on the surface of the virus, obtaining structural information that chemists could use to design new drugs to block it. The new drugs would avoid the resistance that some influenza viruses have already acquired to Tamiflu.
Researchers used advanced X-ray technology to provide an "atomic picture" of the atoms that comprise one of the two surface proteins in the H5N1 virus.
Neuraminidase – the “N” in H5N1 – is the protein in bird flu that allows the virus to spread to other cells in the body. Drugs currently used to treat bird flu are based on other neuraminidase models that are not specific to H5N1.
By identifying H5N1’s unique blueprint, researchers may one day be able to use drugs that home in on the strain that has killed 139 people in the past three years.
The problem is that the new drugs are five years away, but it could potentially be shortened as countries accelerate their pandemic preparedness plans.
posted by healthcare trainer at 9:24 AM
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